Image interpolation, which computes a set of plausible interpolated images using two or more adjacent images, has varied applications including but not limited to frame rate conversion (FRC) between different broadcast standards, synthesis of virtual views, animating still images and so on.
Some TV manufacturing companies incorporate built-in motion interpolation technology in their products to perform FRC. A mechanism for FRC can be as simple as merely replicating received images to achieve the desired frame rate. For example, a TV running at an image refresh rate of 120 Hz and receiving a 30 Hz image sequence may simply display each image four consecutive times. The advantage of this solution is that the complexity of the system is very low, at the expense of possibly resulting in motion judder.
Complicated systems can be designed for motion interpolation. However, computational costs of such techniques can be quite high and can even result in noticeable lags in viewing image sequences involving motions.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, issues identified with respect to one or more approaches should not assume to have been recognized in any prior art on the basis of this section, unless otherwise indicated.